The present invention relates to a device for producing plates made of metal, plastic or a metallo-plastic composite, including, for example, thermofusible, thermoplastic or thermosetting materials, and more particularly, to the machining of such materials by a machine tool in a rapid prototyping process. The present invention also relates to a method for machining and assembling thermofusible plates, for producing prototype parts, and the products obtained.
In general, the present application will make reference to a rapid prototyping process which is known by the name “STRATOCONCEPTION” (a registered trademark), and which is disclosed, for example, in the commonly owned European Patent No. 0 585 502-B1. Reference will also be made to the commonly owned French Patent Applications No. 98 14687 and No. 98 14688.
In general, the “STRATOCONCEPTION” process can be used to produce mechanical parts and items, particularly prototypes, from a specific computer-aided design. This is achieved by the successive steps of performing a virtual breakdown of the part to be produced into elementary laminates, placed in an array, manufacturing a plurality of elementary laminates or layers, building up the plurality of manufactured layers, and assembling the layers to form the part to be produced. The laminates originate from a prior break-down of the part on predetermined planes, and in one or more determined steps.
The underlying principle is that the volume of the part to be reproduced, as a prototype, is broken down into a multitude of laminates. The laminates are produced by machining, for example, by the rapid micromilling of a material in plate or sheet form. The material to be used can, for example, be made of wood, a composite, plastic or metal.
Irrespective of which of these materials is selected for use, there is necessarily a significant loss of material. While this is not in itself prohibitive in carrying out the process, it is nonetheless detrimental to the economy of the process because chips and offcuts of material, and the milling residue produced, cannot be used.
There is, therefore, a need for a machining process that permits the machining of a material, and that permits recycling of the residue from the machined material, as well as machined parts that are of an unsatisfactory quality or that no longer have any use.